Effect of nasal irrigation with budesonide and normal saline on patients with chronic rhino-sinusitis surgery

Purpose: To investigate the therapeutic effect of budesonide nasal irrigation and saline irrigation in patients undergoing surgery for chronic rhinosinusitis (CRS). Methods: One hundred patients scheduled for functional endoscopic sinus surgery (FESS) in Shanghai Ninth People's Hospital, Shanghai Jiaotong University School of Medicine, China were enrolled. The patients were divided into study and control groups comprising 50 cases each. The study group received postoperative budesonide irrigation while control group received normal saline irrigation after surgery. Post-operative symptoms, signs, and adverse reactions of the patients were compared. Results: Five weeks post-operation, the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores of nasal congestion, nasal discharge, nasal itching, sneezing, nasal pain, and the score of nasal endoscopy one week and 4weeks after operation were significantly lower compared to control (p < 0.05). There was no significant difference in nasal bleeding when the packing was removed between the two groups (p > 0.05) after surgery. Within the first week after surgery, there was no significant difference in occurrence of nasal malodor (p > 0.05). Conclusion: Application of budesonide nasal irrigation alleviates post-operative symptoms, reduces inflammation and improves treatment outcomes. Further studies will be required to comprehensively investigate the dose effect of budesonide.